


Zero to Hero

by Gal_of_Action



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 07:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6146020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gal_of_Action/pseuds/Gal_of_Action
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Danny is invited to join the A-listers, he isn't sure what to think. He knows that Dash is long over his fleeting crush on Jazz, so that can't be it. What's more, even when Danny got into the popular crowd thanks to his sister, he was never treated so… Well, suffice to say, nice doesn't even cover what's happening. Is this a prank? Something else? Whatever it is, Danny is determined to have no part in it. Too bad the A listers are just as determined with whatever they have planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zero to Hero

To say that Danny is unnerved would be an understatement. All day the A-listers have been throwing constant glances at him. They're trying to be subtle, but the popular kids have no experience in subtly and so are failing miserably. "Oh man, oh man, what do they want with us?" Tucker whimpers in question across their cafeteria lunch table, Meanwhile he clutches to his chest his newest PDA, fondly named "Silvia".

"Calm down Tuck." Danny tries ease his friend's fear. "They're only looking at me. Not you."

"And that's supposed to make it better?" Tucker hisses back in worry. "You know I can't abandon you, dude. Whatever they have planned, I'll be by your side, whether stuffed into smelly locker or hanging from our tighty whities on the flagpole." Danny would be more heartened by this if his friend didn't just blatantly flinch at the last comment, not that Danny can blame him. He is still confused and a little freaked out himself by how Dash and Kwan managed to get them up on the gosh-darned _flagpole_ some months back.

"Thanks man," Danny says nonetheless with a small smile. He knows it is selfish; he should be trying to persuade Tucker to do otherwise. Yet, misery can't help but love company…

"What are you two blabbering about?" Sam snaps while unconsciously (and viciously) mutilating her salad with her plastic spork. "Sure, we need to keep up appearances, but that doesn't mean we should just stay put and take whatever they have planned," she proclaims with a dark look in her eyes.

Danny sighs. "Listen, I get you, really, but weren't you the one to say that I shouldn't use my powers on them? And you were proven right too. Remember Sidney?" He reminds and points out, before starting with trepidation at the goth's unrecognizable salad. The lettuce looks like ghostly entrails and the tomatoes like splattered blood. How something once so mundane could be made into so disturbing and in such a short amount of time is beyond him.

A small smirk makes its way to purple painted lips. "I didn't say to use your powers, Danny. There are other ways to make them back off."

Before Danny can ask ' _like what?'_ one of the A-listers steals another glance at Danny. This time it's Paulina. "That's it." Sam practically growls, standing with her spork clutched threateningly in one hand. Her grip is white knuckled.

Tucker blinks incredulously at the makeshift weapon in hand. "What are you going to do with a _plastic spork_?" he wonders out loud.

Sam smiles knowingly, _evilly_. "Oh, you'll see. I can get _pretty_ creative..."

Panicking a bit, Danny rushes to pull Sam back onto the bench. "C'mon, Sam. Chill out. They haven't even done anything yet but act a little weird."

"And creepy. Don't forget creepy," Tucker adds helpfully.

Danny shoots him a glower. _Not helping_ , he mouths at the darkly skinned boy, who has the decency to appear sheepish at the reprimand. "Weird, creepy, whatever you want to call it, it can't mean anything but trouble," curtly replies a frustrated Sam. " _Painful_ trouble. So excuse me for not sitting here like an idiot and instead getting to the bottom of this before it's too late." The goth girl announces heatedly, but Danny holds her down. Usually Danny is wimpy when it comes to strength and endurance in his human form. Right now though, his desperation gives him strength. The last thing Danny wants is for the A-listers to adjust their cruel (and likely humiliating) scheme to include Sam as well... If Sam goes through with her threat, that is _exactly_ what would happen too. No doubt about it.

"Let _go_ Danny," Sam protests.

"No," he returns stubbornly.

"Uh, guys…" Tucker pips up, voice shaking.

"It won't help, Sam. Seriously, you'll only make things worse," Danny informs seriously.

"What was that?!" Sam whispers menacingly under her breath, amethyst eyes training furiously on her friend.

" _Dudes,_ cut it out-" Tucker is cut off before he can go on.

"I- I didn't mean it like that," Danny squeaks, trying to take back his words. It doesn't work, especially since he still refuses to let Sam go.

"Really?" Sarcasm drips like poison. "'Cause I-"

" _Guys!"_ Tucker finally snaps, face twitching.

"What?" They snap back. Tucker only points behind them. They look. There stands Dash Baxter, towering over Danny.

"Oh. Hey Dash," Danny greets, chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of his neck. Sam smashes her spork into the lone remaining tomato on her plate. Red splatters gruesomely across leffy remains. Even Dash would have been slightly put-off by the display, if he weren't devoting all his attention to the boy sitting beside her.

"Fenton," Dash says with a hard expression, standing tall in his usual attempt to seem tough. Of course, he would conveniently forget all pretences in face of ghosts, even as one as weak as the Box Ghost. The thought makes Sam seethe, Tucker amused, and Danny briefly pity.

Team Phantom waits for the notorious school bully to go on.

And waits.

And waits some more.

The three of them share a glance, eyebrows raised in bewilderment. Tucker begins to quietly move away from the table, motioning his friends to follow. He figures that they shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and should just leave while they can. Sam purses her lips tightly, conflicted, but then reluctantly agrees and does the same. Danny… Darn his bleeding heart, stays. _Something is seriously wrong here,_ he thinks, unsure if he should be more scared for himself or more worried for the blonde jock. "Erm… You ok, dude?" Danny meekly inquires, deciding on the latter. Tucker is horrified by the decision. Sam, completely peeved.

Whatever daze Dash was in, this finally snaps him out of it. Mutely, he extends something clutched tightly in one hand. Danny squints at it. "Is that…?"

"We want you to join us, Danny," Dash alludes mysteriously. Yep. Being offered to Danny is an A-list file with literally his name on it, more or less his ticket to the popular crowd.

"What?!" The rest of Team Phantom shrieks, stunned by the development.

Stupefied and equally incredulous, Danny grasps for a reasonable explanation to his change in fortune. He peers up with ice blue eyes into Dash's own, attempting to locate any traces of green or red. _Something has to be overshadowing him. This is just too weird._ Dash only stares back, seeming frozen in place. Then, without any warning, Dash _cracks._ Wilts under the icy gaze and into a mess of pleading and fumbling.

"Listen, Fenton. I'm sorry, ok? You're not a loser. You're cool. And me? I'm a jerk. An ass. A- well, you get the picture." Apparently Dash's pride, even as shaken as it seems to now be, won't allow him to say more than that. Not that Danny is complaining. His friends are fairly certain that his mind just broke, and they're honestly not doing much better. A sarcastic comment is on the tip of Sam's tongue, _you don't say, Dash._ For some reason though, she can't force her vocal cords to work. Tucker holds his PDA close like a security blanket, ready to grab his friends and high tail it out of there the moment Dash regains his senses. Mentioned football star continues. "Anyways, point is- you deserve to be an A-lister, _the_ A-lister. So here." He flings the file at Danny like its burning him.

On instinct, Danny catches it. He twitches and scrutinizes the file, as if it would come to life like his mother's last week's, ectoplasmic infected meatloaf. It doesn't. Danny shudders, disturbed beyond words at this bizarre situation. Ectoplasmic infected meatloaf is _normal_ in comparison to this. _Really_ _Weird. A year ago and I would be jump at the chance, forget the consequences. Now though..._ "Um, wow, ok…" Danny manages to say, slowly looking back up. "As awesome as it is to hear you say that, I'm not buying it dude." Danny's mouth goes dry at the sincerely crestfallen demeanor that suddenly overcomes the jock.

Voice cracking, Dash quickly mumbles, "I'm not lying, I swear." And then leaves without another word. Team Phantom watches him go incomprehensibly.

Then, sharing a fearful look, shout, " _Run!_ " They do, oblivious to the yells of the lunch ladies and not giving a second thought to their own food. Not even when the nerds who've had their lunch money stolen that day descend upon it like vultures do the teens care. A few minutes later Team Phantom finds themselves in a janitor's closet, one lone bulb lighting up the cramped room.

"Coast is clear," Sam announces in a hard tone of voice, closing the door softly. "For now, anyways."

"Oh Silvia, baby. Please, help me forget my worries," Tucker says in a whimper to his beloved technology, fiercely typing some string of coding to distract himself. He stoutly ignores the rather grossed out expressions of his friends.

"Ugh, put that away Tucker," Sam mutters, wrinkling her nose.

"I agree with Sam. You sound like- I don't even want to think about," mutters Danny, shifting uncomfortably.

Tucker snorts. "Please. It's not any worse than you two lovebirds."

"We're not lovebirds!" They insist heatedly.

"Keep it down," Tucker hisses, glancing at the door nervously. The pair calms down, also glancing at the door. Nothing happens though, and finally they decide to get down to business.

"Well… I guess we should take a look at this," Danny comment reluctantly. He sits down on the floor but hesitates to open up the file. His hands are shaking. "This is stupid." He knows all too well, and chuckles hoarsely.

"What is, exactly?" Sam asks curiously. "I'll be the first to admit this situation is bizarre, but stupid? This might be the A-listers' best thought-out and cruelest plot yet," she admits sourly, more than suspicious. They all are.

"I mean…" Danny licks his chaps lips. "I've taken on the freakin' _Ghost King_ before, not to mention Vlad Plasmius' craziness on a near weekly basis. Yet here I am now, freaking out over a few snobby high schoolers sending me weird looks."

"It's not just that, dude," Tucker reveals kindly, lowering Silvia. "You can't fight back against the A-lister like you would a ghost. Plus, _Dash Baxter_ just came over and _apologized_! If that isn't a sign of the apocalypse, I don't know what is." Danny nods adamantly, his already light complexion paling further.

Sam shoots Tucker a scolding look, frowning deeply. "Geez. You consider that helping?"

Tucker shrugs. "What can I say? I'm a realist. Gotta put things into perspective."

"No way…" This comes from Danny. Tucker and Sam turn to find him hunched over a now open file, clutching the edges so tightly that his fingernails make visible imprints on the other side.

"What's up?" Tuck questions as he and Sam huddles around the halfa.

"Guys, Dash gave me _his_ file." He looks up at them with wide eyes.

There is silence for a long moment. "Wha…?" Tuck's eyes take on a glazed appearance that practically screams _does not compute_. Naturally, they are thrown into a state of disbelief. They all know that if Dash gave Danny his file, then Dash would no longer be the most popular freshman in school… Danny would.

"Let me see that," Sam demands, antsy as she rips the file away from Danny.

"Hey!" he protests with a scowl, but Sam ignores him.

Her eyes quickly scan over the file while her lips purse tightly. "Maybe he made a mistake?" She reasons, but the excuse is found lacking by them all.

Danny shakes his head. "No way Dash would make a mistake like this."

"Unless… Unless he's being overshadowed," Tucker determines triumphantly.

"Already checked his eyes, and my ghost sense hasn't gone off all day…" Danny's voice trails off uncertainly, trying to find any fault in his own reasoning. Overshadowing would be so easy to accept, if only...

"Besides, why would some ghost want to make Danny an A-lister?" Sam adds, tapping her foot in thought.

"I dunno." Tucker shrugs, disappointed that his idea was so easily and swiftly tossed aside. "Thought it'd make more sense than anything else."

"Well, we shouldn't rule it out just yet. You do have a point, after all," Danny remarks hopefully, then feels immediately guilty. He shouldn't be hoping that his classmates are possessed by some ghost, no matter how terrible they might be. "I got an idea." Danny suddenly pips up in a moment of inspiration. He may have put more enthusiasm into that than he should have.

"For real?!" Sam questions with exaggerated enthusiasm, teasing him good-naturedly.

Danny rolls his eyes with a slight smile. "For real. Hear me out." He trains his gaze on the bespectacled boy next to him. "Tuck, can you hack into one of their phones?"

Tucker's brown eyes light up with understanding. "Consider it done," he responds smoothly, wiping out his PDA and setting to work. Within moments he's finished. Sam leans over his shoulder to see, before pulling back and rolling her amethyst eyes.

" _Paulina_ , of course," she spats disdainfully, as if the name is some curse.

Danny has a distinctly different reaction. His eyes light up (not literally, they stay blue). He eagerly leans over to peak at Tucker's PDA. Sure enough, on screen appears to be the homepage of Paulina's cell phone if the Danny Phantom background covered in hearts is anything to go by. Danny finds himself blushing, still unused the idea of Paulina being head over heals for him, even if it's only for his Phantom side. "Lemme see," he urges Tucker quickly, going to snatch the phone away.

"Oh no you don't; Silvia's mine!" Tuck protests, pulling the PDA away and triggering Danny to be instantly peeved.

"Come on, Tuck! Give me a break," he whines pitifully, giving his best kicked puppy look. Sam facepalms. Tucker's expression morphs to one of sympathy.

"I guess if I were in your shoes I'd be curious too…" he mutters. "Fine. But be careful! You'll pay if there's even a _scratch_ on Silvia's beautiful screen," he warns, and actually sounds pretty threatening.

"Duly noted," Danny responds seriously. The moment the PDA is passed to him however, he is a giddy fourteen year old boy once more. "Holy…" he breathes.

"What?!" Tucker asks, hopping up and down some like an excited puppy.

Danny grins like an idiot. "There's a _fan club_ for me, with an internet page and everything. And get this- she's _president_ of it."

"You're kidding!" Tucker accuses automatically, mind whirling. If only _he_ could have a fan club with a hot president…

"Dude, it's true. Take a look at this!" Danny shows him the screen. Sure enough, the proof is there. Tucker points to the number of club members. They mutually give a slow, appreciative whistle.

"Guys? Don't you have an _actual_ purpose for going through Paulina's phone? Before, you know, you both started fawning like a pair of hopelessly infatuated, hormonal idiots?" Sam questions matter-of-factly.

"Hm? What was that, Sam?" Danny inquires distractedly, now going through the hundreds of pictures on Paulina's phone… Nearly all of which are of him.

"Unbelievable..." Sam mutters, resisting the urge to smash her head against the nearest wall. Repeatedly. Raising her voice, she tries again. "Uh, _hello._ Earth to morons. We're trying to find out the A-listers plot, remember?" She feels kinda bad for insulting her friends so much, but they really have it coming in her opinion. The way they are acting is _disgusting_.

Danny finally manages to regain his senses. "Sorry…" He chuckles sheepishly, slowing his scrolling through the pictures. "Guess I got kinda carried a-"

"Danny!"

"What?!" yelps the mentioned boy, alarmed. Tucker points at the screen. Danny obliges him and promptly gaps. "What the heck…?" This catches Sam's attention. She was about to start banging her head against something, but Danny's last comment was worrisome. He sounded legitly freaked out, and not in the same, happy way he did a few moments before.

"What is it?" Sam asks, gnawing lightly on her bottom lip. They show her. The last fifty or so pics on Paulina's phone are not of Danny Phantom… They are of Danny _Fenton._


End file.
